Sand pile collapses on, kills 7-year-old Wash. boy

Authorities say a 7-year-old boy who was digging alone in a sand pile near his central Washington home died after the pile collapsed, burying his head, arms and shoulders.

Kittitas County Sheriff Gene Dana says the parents of Clayton Everley found him half-buried Wednesday afternoon about 100 feet from their house in Roslyn, in an area of their backyard that is covered in sand. They started CPR, and fire department medics continued life-saving measures.

The Daily Record reports that the boy was taken to an Ellensburg hospital and then flown to Children's Hospital in Seattle, where he died that evening.

Dana calls the death a "tragic accident."

Roslyn is a picturesque mountain town known as the place where part of the 1990s television series "Northern Exposure" was filmed.